Neon Genesis Re-vangelion
by Bread732
Summary: An alternate timeline/re-telling of Evangelion, accessible to newbies and fans alike.
1. 0: Sachiel

Another day, another payphone. It was the only way Shinji could speak with his dad. Caller ID had run rampant like a disease; he didn't want his father to know where he was staying. But they needed to talk today. Or at least, that's what the letters were saying. The letters that came with featuring a purple haired woman in short shorts were saying that too. They had to talk.

There was a long beeping noise as he held the phone. Then there wasn't any sound.

"Hello? Dad? Hello?"

No answer. The ground below Shinji began to shake, like a bounce house made out of ice cream. He looked around himself. An earthquake? Oh, wait, no, a giant monster. With bones on its skin. Shinji sighed, that design looked so overdone. The red thing on its stomach looked shiny though.

It seemed like Shinji was going to die. He felt like that pretty often anyway, but that usually didn't involve laser beams and destruction in the middle of Tokyo-3. He wished he were back home in the mountains with his trumpet teacher. Too late for that. But the car pulling up in front of him looked promising.

The front door opened and then he saw the girl from the postcards. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. Ask for her autograph? Tell her his name? She might have already known his name, but-

"Shinji, get in the car!"

"Oh, okay."

He struggled to open the back left seat, but got in, and soon they were driving away from the carnage.

"You had to choose the impersonal entrance, didn't you?" asked the woman in front of him.

"Sorry, um, well, it was the closest. And we're kind of in a rush."

"Whatever, good thinking. I guess you're going to need that for this job."

Shinji looked out through the window behind him, and saw military planes firing at the monster, but to no avail. "What is that thing?"

"It's called an Angel, Shinji. And you are going to become very acquainted with it."

"What's that supposed to mean? Wait, where are you taking me?"

"To your father's work, of course."

Right. NERV was a UN military organization founded after the events of Second Impact in 1995. Shinji's father was the commander of NERV. Shinji's father was also an asshole. He thought he could just kick Shinji out of the house to live a life in the mountains playing the trumpet. And he was right, he could. But that didn't mean Shinji had to give him the satisfaction of knowing about it. When it became clear that he wasn't going to receive any kind of contact from his dad, he decided to stop trying to reach him. When they moved, he didn't let his dad know. And yet, here he was, in a strange woman's car for the sake of his dad's own needs to "reconnect" with his "child". His dad hadn't said he wanted to reconnect with him, Shinji was only assuming. The best reason he could think for Gendo inviting him over was to pull some dumb father-son bonding stunt to win him over.

A minute passed. "I see." Shinji fidgeted in his back seat. She was right, it did feel impersonal. Uncomfortable.

"I'm Misato, by the way." she said, "Misato Katsuragi. Nice to meet you, Shinji Talley."

"Um, yeah. Thanks. So wait, you called that an Angel? Like from the Bible or something?" Shinji had never been religious, but weren't angels supposed to look human? That thing wrecking the city was kind of humanoid, but it looked demonic.

"It's just a codename." she said, "Angels don't really exist."

"Oh, okay, right."

When they got to the headquarters, Misato handed him his NERV I.D. card. Pretty disturbing that they had a photo of him on hand. He's have to ask his father about that. The escalator ride was silent. He liked that, but he wasn't sure if Misato liked or hated it. Getting a good look at her face, she was definitely the one from the postcards. Those strange postcards..

She seemed to be pouting as they ascended. He wondered if he should ask if something was wrong; choosing not to, his thoughts wandered to the strange monster. He wasn't sure if he'd been more afraid in his life than when he saw that thing.

"Miss Katsuragi-"

"Ooh, someone's getting formal."

"Well, I mean, that's your name."

"Okay.."

"Miss Katsuragi, why aren't people evacuating from here? I mean, that monster looks like it could destroy us any second. I don't really understand what's going on, but…"

"We have no need to evacuate." said Misato, confidently, "Civilians evacuate. The helpless evacuate. But we are NERV, Earth's last force of defense. We stay here and fight."

"Those planes from before, then? That was NERV?"

"No silly, that was the U.S. military."

"What's NERV going to use then?"

"You."

"What?"

Ding! The elevator doors opened. A blonde woman in a lab coat greeted them. "Wonderful, you're here!"

She grabbed Shinji's arm and took him down the corridor into a room that resembled a lab. The room had a large window that showed an enormous room with a series of large gaps on the bottom. Grinning, she pressed a button connected to a machine, and out from the second hole to the left, a purple metal monster emerged.

"Shinji Talley, it is my pleasure to introduce you to our last hope. This is the Evolved Ultimate All-Purpose Humanoid Decisive Battle Weapon: Evangelion! You can call it an Eva for short."

"Oh. Wow, that thing is… huge. But why aren't you using it to fight the Angels?"

Another grin, "We are now. She's all yours!"

"...what?"

A few seconds of pause.

"What!? What!"

"You are the pilot of Unit 01."

"Why me?! Why couldn't you get someone actually trained to do it? I'm the last person you want piloting that giant thing!" Sweat started to stream down his face. He didn't want to fight that monster. "You're an entire military base. What are you guys thinking?"

"Listen, Shinji. Only fourteen-year-old children can pilot this thing. Only you can pilot Unit-01."

Shinji headed for the door, but right as he got out of the room, he was face to face with with an immense aura that threatened to consume him. He felt weak in a way he hadn't felt in years. His father was right in front of him.

"Shinji!" Commander Gendo Ikari grinned, "I take it Ritsuko's introduced you to Unit-01?"

"Um… well yeah." Shinji felt himself shrinking.

"Great, so you know you should probably get inside the entry plug soon. You know, before we die from the Angel that's attacking us."

"What? You can't just pop back into my life and tell me to pilot something I've never seen before in my… life! I don't even have a driver's license yet. Don't you have someone who knows how to?"

The man grimaced. "Have it your way. Send Rei in, please."

The four of them walked down to the floor of the room with the humanoid contraption, as the base began to shake. A sign the Angel had arrived. Shinji hardly noticed, as he himself was also shaking from everything that day he had seen. He didn't even need me, thought Shinji. He already had someone.

A technician came into the room, wheeling a hospital bed. The girl on the bed was heavily bandaged, and seemed barely conscious, wearing no expression. Suddenly there was another crash in the base, Rei was knocked off of her bed, and an enormous lighting track came right down at Shinji. Then for a brief moment, all he could see was purple.

It was Eva Unit-01's arm!

"Amazing, the Eva unit saved you!" said the strange woman Ritsuko.

Shinji ran over to the other pilot, helping her get back up off of the ground. Piloting the unit was dangerous. He didn't want to submit himself to that, but what would it say about him if he let this poor girl shoulder the burden alone?

"Shinji, this isn't like anything I've seen! The Evangelion has recognized you as its pilot-"

"I'll do it." said Shinji, "I'm piloting. I'll fight the Angel. I'll do it. Whatever."

"Well, Doctor Akagi," said Gendo, "It seems the Third Child has arrived. Welcome aboard, Shinji."

Third child? Shinji had to shrug it off. There was work to do. He walked into the long plug, gulping as it closed around him. Then there was the smell of blood. Orange liquid was pouring into the plug. Was something going wrong? Shinji was completely submerged. He tried to shut his ice and close his breath, but had to gasp from the shock. His eyes opened, and he could see through the orange. The liquid flowed into his lungs like air. He exhaled.

A speaker boomed inside the plug, "You alright in there, third child?"

"Doctor Podgorski, what's happening?"

"That's just the LCL," she said, "It helps you sync with the Eva. Take deep breaths."

The outside of the Eva came into view. He was in the middle of the city, and right in front of him was the Angel. He looked down inside the plug at the levers in front of him. "Um, guys, what do I do?"

"Don't worry about the controls Shinji, just concentrate. Try to walk."

Shinji concentrated, and felt the Eva walking along in front of him.

"Okay, now try to-"

The angel picked Shinji up by the neck.

"Okay new plan, fight back!"

"Come on Shinji, fight it!" came Misato's voice.

Beams of light from the Angel's arm stabbed Shinji in the eye. He screamed, holding his hand against it in pain.

"Shinji, it's not really your eye! Please, concentrate!"

The Angel threw him off, slamming him into a large building. Shinji wailed in pain. Consciousness was beginning to fail him. Yet he felt himself moving.

Blood was spurting out from his unit's head in two directions, but it kept going forward.

The Eva lept at its opponent, knocking the Angel down. At base there was a large commotion.

"What's happening?"

"Is the pilot okay?"

"Where's that music coming from?"

Akagi looked on in rapt joy and horror, "It's going berserk."

The Eva pounded away at the large red core glowing at the Angel's chest. When the Angel threw it off, it came running back, so the Angel blocked the Eva with an array of orange octagons. "It's the A.T. Field!" Ritsuko explained.

"Look, the Eva's forming its own."

"Just as planned." the scientist grinned as the fields disappeared into each other. The Eva brought out its knife and tried stabbing at the core in front of it, but the Angel started to inflate. It overlapped Shinji and then self-destructed, leaving in its stead a 450 foot tall crucifix of fire.

When the explosion cleared, Unit-01 was still standing, and glowing a beautiful red. Gendo's grin was bigger than Doctor Podgorski's. "This…. is the power…. of Eva!"

The bridge bunnies started to wonder if they should be afraid of their boss. A scream sounded from the microphone inside of Unit-01. The Eva's mask had fallen off, and the pilot saw the unit's burnt, fleshy form.

"Looks like Unit-01 has shut down. Now all's left is to secure it and bring the pilot to the hospital wing. Speaking of whom, make sure that the Third Child is given a room immediately."

"Wait a minute, Commander Ikari," said Misato, "Are you saying you're going to let him live alone?"

"I'm sure he won't mind-"

"Well I mind! Have him live with me, I've got an extra room in my apartment anyway."

Gendo raised his eyebrow, "As you wish."


	2. 1-3rd: Shamshel and Ramiel

Shinji dreaded arriving at Tokyo-3 First Municipal Middle School every day. It was boring, pro-conformist, and he didn't know any of the course material. His grades were doomed. He was learning to pilot a living weapon of destruction, so his life was doomed too. His relationship with his father seemed to be doomed as well.

His father must have felt wonderful though. "Yes, yes." Shinji imagined him grinning, "Now the boy is in the death robot, finally useful to me." What a total creep. He didn't care how Shinji felt, he only wanted to ensure that his precious job was safe.

At least Rei was in his homeroom class, though. They hardly ever talked, but it was nice for Shinji to have someone who he knew first. She hardly seemed to talk to anyone either. He wondered if he should have introduced her to Touji and Kensuke.

When the class found out Shinji was the pilot of Unit-01, everyone wanted to talk to him. Kensuke was the first person in that long line. He was completely obsessed with aliens and robots. A genuine guy, but one who would kill to take Shinji's place in the cockpit.

Touji was a beast. Shinji vividly remembered the way he punched him the first time they met. It was twice as hard as Jack Bauer, and half as hard as Chuck Norris. The night that Shinji first pilot Unit -01, you see, its head had crashed into an apartment building. This resulted in many people getting hurt and Touji's sister was one of them. Shinji's sarcastic taunting probably didn't help get them started on the right foot either.

The two of them had starting acting pretty nice to him ever since the second Angel attacked, though. Well, NERV called it the Fourth Angel for some reason. Somehow, the two of them had ended up outside during an attack. To keep them safe, Shinji pulled them into the Entry Plug with him. With his focus scattered, defeating the Angel wasn't easy.

As its A.T. Field met with Eva-01's, things had become surreal for him. He could feel himself bleeding in places the Eva wasn't bleeding. There was a sensation like he had replayed his entire life on video, but only the painful parts. It felt like he was in love, but love had somehow taken a whole new meaning. A sinister one, in which he was at the mercy of anyone who could make him happy. But still, the Angel died. The next day, Touji apologized for having attacked Shinji, and even asked him to punch back.

He wondered if Rei would get that kind of attention once she joined the fray. She was the pilot of Eva-00, after all. She had been missing school from her injuries though. The story was that during a routine test, 00 had gone berserk. While the staff were alright, Rei had no way of escaping the plug. It was actually Shinji's dad who had rushed in at the restrained unit to save her. They said he tore the way to the entry plug open with his bare hands. His hands got burns that lasted for days after. Good for him, thought Shinji, good for him. He ought to save more people who weren't his son. Maybe one day he'd burn somewhere else.

Home life was much better. Misato was constantly drunk, made terrible food, and had a crazy penguin named Pen-Pen. Shinji really didn't like school. Sure, homework was a part of home life, but it was school's fault. Turning in bad homework was the worst anyway, and Shinji would do that at school.

Then there was work. Work was hell, because work was war. Shinji spent four hours a day after school training. They put him inside something called a 'simulation body'. It was nice to pilot without the threat of death, but then he'd remember what he was practicing for.

"Shinji!" called Dr. Akagi, catching up with him as he left training that day, "I'll go home with you. Misato invited me over."

"Oh, okay." They got into the elevator together. It was average size as far as elevators went, but Shinji felt cramped. Here was the most brilliant mind at NERV, about to have a certainly crappy dinner with him. He wondered if he should say something, but he never knew what to say.

"So Shinji, how much has your father told you about the Angels?" she asked, as they exited the elevator, walking down the corridor.

"That I should kill them." That sounded stupid, but it was true.

"They're intriguing, I'll say. We've been looking at the remains of the one you took out the other day. DNA tests aren't giving us any solutions. All we can work with is the inherent wave pattern."

"Oh, right." Inherent what? Too much science talk. Shinji hadn't even done his bio homework yet; what did she expect from him?

"It has 99.89% similarity to that of humans."

"Wait, 99.89%? Does that mean they have human DNA?" That actually brought a lot of big questions to Shinji's mind (the mind of Shinji, mind you). Questions his dad probably didn't want him asking.

"We don't know that yet; it doesn't look like they do. The inherent wave pattern doesn't have to do as much with DNA as it does with brain waves. Frequencies that echo through our bodies' nervous systems. It's easier to get a pattern from an Angel than it is to get it from a dog or a cricket. Animals have them, but they're so faint. People argue over the similarities and differences.

"It's like the Angel is thinking, but in such a way that it's 0.11% different from the way they are. As if their reality is 0.11% away from our own. 99.89%. Feels kind of foreboding right? Upside down, it's nearly 666. We call it the Kozo Ratio."

"Dr. Akagi, why do we call them Angels? It kind of makes us look like the bad guys. I mean, I'm fine with taking down the messengers of God if they're gonna kill me anyway. But … that's not what they are, is it?"

"Beats me, kid. On the name part, that is. They've been called that longer than I've been involved. I think a human who would name them that would be pretty messed up. The fact we still use it shows how masochistic our species really is. You have a key?"

"Oh, right.' Shinji took out his key to Misato's apartment and opened the door for the researcher. "Misato, I'm home!"

"Ritsuko!" Dr. Akagi found herself glomped by an obviously pre-gamed Misato. "So glad you could make it!"

"I kind of live nearby. There's food, right?"

Food was one thing you could call it. It was better described as a stale blend of instant noodles prepared in a broth of water, beer, and skittles. Shinji got halfway through the closest bowl to his chair before giving up. He was too grossed out to eat.

"Oh Shinji," Ritsuko giggled, after a few drinks, "I forgot."

"You forgot? Forgot what?"

"I forgot to give it to her," she dug into her pocket and pulled out a small card, "Rei. I forgot. First Child." She pinched it between two fingers, pointing towards Shinji.

"Are you alright, Dr. Akagi?"

"Oh just get on with it!" yelled Misato, who was trying to pass out on the couch.

Ritsuko took a few deep breaths. "We got Rei a new ID card. I was supposed to give it to her today, and I forgot. Could you, maybe, possibly…. do something?"

"You want me to … give it to her?"

"YES! DO IT!"

"Girl, volume." Ritsuko advised.

"SOR-"

"VOLUME."

"Sorry…"

Shinji looked over the card.

Name: Rei Ayanami

Renewal date: 11/04/14

Rank: First Child

HIP Station: B.

Shinji was told not to worry about that last one. "Okay, consider it done! Wait, where's Rei's room?"

"Fourth floor, Room Seventy-Nine Thousand and Eighty Four."

Shinji paused. "You forgot, didn't you?"

"Don't question me!"

The next morning, Shinji found his way to the door of apartment 402. He knocked a few times, but after a few minutes of waiting, there was no answer. "Hello, Rei?" he asked. Testing the doorknob, he found it to be able to open. Well, he wasn't about to set her card outside for someone to take. He opened a small part of it.

"Hello? Rei? It's me, Shinji Ikari. I'm here to bring you your card!" Looking inside, he looked into her kitchen, which was empty. "Sorry for barging in but… I'm just gonna walk in! To bring you.. the card." When he finished his trek through the kitchen, he found her bedroom. It was full of bloody bandages and red stained her bed andpillow. She also had a fridge in there though, so it wasn't all bad.

Then something caught his eye on top of her dresser drawer. Glasses. "These can't be hers, can they?" he wondered out loud. Suddenly, he heard the clicking open of a door, and spun around to find himself in front of a completely nude Rei.

"Shinji." she spoke.

Uh oh, he had really messed up now. "Wait, Rei, I-"

"Please give me back those glasses."

His feet moved without a thought, and Shinji tripped over a stray piece of paper on the floors. Arms open, he ran into Rei, bringing them both to the ground, covered in panties. Wait, panties? Right, his foot had caught on one of her drawers.

Shinji gave a small scream, not knowing how to process this encounter. He needed to get out. He needed to apologize. He needed… something.

"Shinji," said Rei after a few seconds, "Please get off of me."

Only then did he realize that his other hand had found a place on Rei's chest. Another scream from Shinji later, the two were finally standing agaian. They were a good distance apart and Rei had her glasses back. She started to get dressed.

"I'm sorry, Rei," Shinji looked away from her as he stammered apologies. I just wanted to get it to you, I should've waited, I-"

"Let's go." she said to him, "Training is today."

"Oh, okay, right."

They made their way out of Rei's apartment, heading off to work. "Oh, Rei," Shinji said suddenly, "The reason I came in, was to give you this." he handed her the new card.  
"Oh. Thank you, Shinji."

"No problem. So…."

"So..?"

"Does it.. worry you?"

"Does what worry me?"  
"Piloting the Eva, putting yourself in danger? Whenever I'm not doing it, the idea scares me. And I know you had your accident, so.. how do you know that it's not going to break again?"

Rei looked puzzled at that, "Aren't you Commander Ikari's son?"

"Well, yes."

"Don't you have faith in your father's work?"  
"Of course not!" Shinji argued, "After everything he's done, how could anyone trust him?"

Rei grimaced, and paused where she stood.

"Rei?" he asked, walking back up to her. She replied by slapping him in the face.

"Fourth Commandment: Thou shalt honor thy mother and father. We are almost at the base."

Then there they were: the death machines. It was time to get in, thought Shinji. Then the alarm went off.

"Calling all employees!" came the announcement, "This is not a drill. The Fifth Angel has been spotted approaching the city."

Well well, thought Shinji, now it was time to get in.

The Angel looked like a floating blue diamond, hovering into the city. "Shinji, Rei, try a quick close range strike!" ordered Misato.

As the two Evas scurried in a straight line, the diamond opened up, revealing a charging laser cannon. Uh oh, thought Shinji, and he shifted in an attempt to dodge the blast. The beam followed his movements, and gave him a searing pain in his shoulder.

"Unit-01 armor, partially burnt! Shinji, do you read me?"

"Yes…." he panted, "Loud and clear. Don't worry.. I'll get in closer and then-"  
"No!" interrupted Ritsuko, "If you get closer, it won't miss. You need to lie back while we think of a plan."

And so the hours went by, and the Evas waited, as the Fifth Angel slowly made its way towards the Geofront. Rei and Shinji rested their Evas, plugged in at a safe distance. They then watched the diamond make its way through the city at a slug's pace.

"It's halfway there already," said Shinji, "You thought of anything?"

"We've been harnessing energy for a ranged weapon, but we're only one third the way to having enough." said Ritsuko.

"Alright… well… I have something. Something to try in the mean time."

"What?"

"Well," said Shinji, afraid he was about to get laughed at, "Try to get me a large shovel. Or maybe an axe. That way, we could dig a hole to trick the Angel's senses."

Ritsuko paused, thinking it over.

"It would be really risky." whispered Misato over the frequency. "There's no guarantee it wouldn't detect you from below."

"Are you willing to deal with the risks, Shinji?"

"Well, I…" Shinji stammered, as he started to really think about what could happen. That searing on his shoulder, still present, spreading all over his limbs and torso. His body and his Eva decomposing in front of his own father's eyes.

"The fact is," continued Ritsuko, "We can't afford to lose you."

"But it is equally impermissible that we let that Angel in." Rei cut in, "I apologize for the interruption. I would like to tell you that I volunteer to do the dig."

"Rei…" Ritsuko furrowed her brow.

"That won't be necessary." Trevor's voice came in, "It's not necessary, Rei."

"I don't find it unnecessary either, Commander." she replied. "I believe we are wasting time at this moment. Please, send me a progressive axe, and I can make my way to the Angel."

Misato sighed, "Fine. Shinji, I want you watching on the sidelines, as close as you can get without the Angel firing. If it makes an attack on the below, go straight ahead and try to disable it. But be careful!"

Rei tunneled underneath the city, while Shinji watched the Angel from a nearby cliff-side.

Ritsuko groaned, "What were we thinking? The damages to the city will be enormous this time if we make it out alive."

Should I get closer, thought Shinji. He inched his way towards the Angel, closer and closer. "There we go… steady, steady…" Then, the Angel opened up, its laser cannon visible again. "Oh crap!" Shinji tried backing up, but the laser still went through. It hit the cliffside behind him, and caused it to crumble. Thankfully, there were no buildings on top. Shinji still had to dodge a lot of falling boulders though.

After another pause in activity, the Angel exposed its laser cannon again. "Oh no," said Shinji, looking side to side to see where to dodge to. If he just moved without thinking, it could possibly predict his movements. But the cannon didn't point at him, it pointed diagonally towards the ground. "Rei!"

Shinji lept at the Angel, moving with a celerity he didn't know his Eva even had. When he made it to the city, there was an enormous hole in the ground from the laser. "Rei?"

The First Child jumped out of the hole, unharmed. The Angel was charging, but Shinji had his knife ready.

"Shinji." came Rei's voice over the intercom, "It's time to finish it off."

Shinji stabbed the lens of the Angel's weapon with his knife, causing it to vibrate and heat up. "Rei, I've got it locked open, now aim for the core!" Eva-00 ran at the Angel's exposed core, striking it repeatedly with the axe. Then, the floating Angel sank into the hole it had created, and extended a drill.

"The Angel is… digging a hole?" Ritsuko was puzzled.

"It's about to discharge!" yelled Misato, "It's gonna blow up, like the first one that attacked!"

"So that's your game, huh?" shouted Shinji, "Well I'm prepared this time." He took his knife out of the Angel's laser cannon. Next, he threw it on the ground of the tunnel below him, struggling to lift the Angel. "Rei, go up to the surface! I'll throw it up there!"

"If that's what you want." she obeyed.

With strain, Shinji threw the Angel up into the air. The Angel shot its cannon at Shinji, and he tried to keep it back with his AT field. The battlefield was covered in smoke from this contact.

"Shinji!" yelled Misato, "The battle's done at this point, we have to get out there!"

"Misato!" interrupted Ritsuko, as the former was exiting the control room.

"Yeah!?"

"Be careful." With an AT Field like that, thought Ritsuko, Shinji better be okay.

When the smoke cleared, the Angel was a burnt husk floating in the air with its core exposed. Meanwhile the Evangelion in the tunnel was powered off and damaged, but intact. Unit-00 wasted no time in finishing the core off, beating the Angel down to the surface, red blood oozing of it.

"Shinji… Are you..." panted Rei, "Is that Captain Downing?"

Misato had run out into the city, and climbed into the tunnel where Unit-01 lay dormant. "Come on, Shinji!" she yelled at the large behemoth, "It's time to go home! Rei, some help here!"

Rei flipped Shinji's unit over and took off the nape of the neck, causing his plug to be ejected. Misato climbed onto Eva-00's hand and opened Shinji's plug. Inside, the boy was barely conscious and covered in LCL, but he was alive.

"Shinji?"

He groaned in pain, "Misato, is that you?"

The woman pulled Shinji out of the plug and wrapped her arms around him, causing him to blush. "The mission was a success Shinji. Let's go home." On the hand of Evangelion Unit-00, the three of them went back to temporary safety.


	3. 2-3rds: Gaghiel

One time, after training, Shinji had asked Misato a question. "Hey Misato, I'm the Third Child, right?"

"That's right Shinji," she said, as they boarded the elevator to their apartment.

"That means there were two pilots before me. I know that Rei's the first one, but.. well.. what happened to the Second Child?" Shinji expected that there'd been some sort of unsightly accident, or that the pilot had quit. Why else would NERV choose him to protect Tokyo-3 instead of the next person on the list?

"Oh, you mean Asuka?" Misato answered, "She's still training in Germany."

"Wait what?" Shinji readjusted himself, "Still training? After Rei and I have been risking our lives out in the field all this time? How long's this been going on?"

"Well…" she trailed off, "A long time. Your father's been trying hard to get Unit-02 transferred over here. But the German government doesn't want to give us that much power, even if we're using it to save the world. A transfer to Japan has been authorized, but the next step still has a lot of politics behind it. I'm sure you'll get to meet her eventually though."

That was two months ago. At the end of this day, Shinji will come to the conclusion that back then had been a better time.

The Second Child came up on deck to meet them once Misato and Shinji's plane had landed on the carrier. She wore blue jeans, a jacket, and a smile full of thrill and excitement. "Hi, I'm Asuka Langley Soryuu, nice to meet you!" It almost reminded Shinji of his first time meeting Dr. Akagi. Yet something was different this time. It made him want to introduce himself.

"Hey, I'm-"

"Yeah I know," she cut him off, "you're Shinji Ikari, Third Child, Rookie of the Year. I've seen the tapes of your battles, I'm so glad I can finally join in and show you how it's done." She turned away from him, to Misato, "But I want to talk to you! Major Misato Katsuragi. It's such an honor. Your work in keeping NERV sustained throughout the years is amazing. Hearing about you on the field in that last battle was a thrill."

"Oh, wow." Misato smiled, "That's a bit too much credit to me I'd think."

"To think that once you knew the Angel was dead, you'd check to make sure the Eva Unit was okay.. pilots like me are blessed to have the best of NERV's staff available to us. And I have to admire anyone who had to look after this bozo."

"Now by this bozo, do you mean Shinji or me?" asked the gentleman who was accompanying her. He looked to be about Misato's age. "Nice to meet you. I'm Ryoji Kaji." he said, shaking Shinji's hand. "I already know all about what Misato does. By Asuka's standards, that means I should be introducing myself to you first."

"Oh, well, I'm Shinji. Well, you know that already. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Kaji."

"Oh yes it is. Say, does Major Katsuragi still toss and turn when she's asleep?"

"Wow," said Misato, "You like to get straight to the point."

"Just like you used to."

"Oh shut up." she gave him a shove, "Where's Unit-02? I'm sure Shinji would like to see it."

"I'll bring you two to where it is." said Asuka.

Misato and Shinji followed her to the other side of the deck, the site of a large tarp. The Second Child lifted the tarp. Under it, tied to the ship and floating in the water, was a three-eyed red Eva, similar yet unlike Units 01 and 00.

"Wow," said Shinji, "It's.. red."

"Red? Red!? It's not just red! It's the first true Evolved Evangelion unit! Unit-00 was only the first working prototype. Unit-01 is called the Test Type Eva. This, though, is the Eva that all future models will be based on!"

She seemed pretty full of herself there, thought Shinji. "I mean, considering that without Units 00 and 01, NERV wouldn't know how to make Unit-02, then.. If what you're saying is right, this isn't _the_ Eva that future Evas will be based on. It's just the _last_ Eva that all future Evas will be based on."

She glared at him, "You're annoying."

So of course, thought Shinji. How could he _not_ expect an Angel to attack today? And, to what he had to admit was the world's good fortune, it showed up exactly where he was instead of at the NERV base. Unless whatever they were protecting at home flew with them, the Angel seemed far from its target.

But let's go back to the bad news, he thought. Shinji was moving 90 miles per hour underwater, in the cockpit of a machine he'd never seen before today. The Eva wasn't wearing underwater gear, and was riding on the fin of a creature much larger than it. Being stuck in a small tube with Asuka sucked, even if he needed to do it to survive.

"Shinji, are you even concentrating here? The Eva's not gonna work as well if you're distracting it with your thoughts!"

"Right, sorry Asuka." Looking ahead, Shinji saw a jet heading towards the mainland. The Angel seemed to have some sort of attraction to it, because it was swimming its way.

Meanwhile on the carrier, Misato had taken control of the communications system. "What does Kaji think, just getting into a jet and flying away? Anyhow, Jesuka. If you can keep yourselves from letting go until it reaches land, you should have an advantage. While it's too fast for missiles right now, on land the Angel might be slower, and we can engage it then."

Shinji wished he were in Unit-01. There he could actually get something done. As they washed up, Unit-02 detached from the Angel. Asuka made for a charged slash at the Angel, splitting it in half. "Booyah! Now where's the core?"

They couldn't make anymore progress though. The two halves of the angel morphed into more humanoid Angels with visible cores. Unit 02 struggled to fight off the Angels, but was being damaged.

"Asuka-"

"Shinji I'm kinda busy."

"Asuka I-"

"Shut up and let me do this!"  
"Asuka I want to actually do something!" There was a shattering noise. The armor on Evangelion Unit-02 broke open from the sides, and two new arms came out from the opening.

"Oh my god, what's happening?" Asuka shrieked, "My beautiful Evangelion Unit! Broken!"

"It's a bit too gross for my tastes too, but thanks to this, we have an opening." said Shinji. This was a small surprise after becoming an Eva pilot. For now, he just hoped two things: To beat the Angel, and that this didn't mean he had to stay in Unit-02.

Eva-02 grabbed the Angel to its left with its new arms, while the regular arms grabbed the Angel to the right. Shinji squeezed until the left Angel's head came off. He beat down on its core while Asuka stabbed the Angel on the right with a progressive knife. Angel blood poured all over the sand, and all over the new lower arms of the Eva Unit. The bloodied arms then retreated into its body.

"Well…" said Misato, radioing to base, "The Angel's been taken down, in some.. unexpected circumstances."

"I can see the mission went as planned, Mr. Kaji." said Commander Ikari at Ryoji's arrival.

"Yes," he said, handing a box to Gendo, "Here's Adam. The Angel almost got to it."

"But the Eva Unit took care of everything." the commander smiled, "Welcome to Tokyo-3, Mr. Kaji. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend."

Kaji left the room, and Commander Ikari turned the lights off. At his conference table, he flipped a switch The projecter turned on and a set of monoliths stood in front of him.

"Ikari," said the female voice at the head of the table. "Evangelion Unit-02 has exhibited the chimera effect, just as the prophecies claimed."

"Now that the Mother of all Angels has been delivered to your base, you will be the main target of the Angels."

"It's safer this way, of course." said Gendo, "Especially with Unit-02 here. Data from today shows that both our pilots achieved record synch ratios today. And as we speak, NERV continues development of the dummy system. If we let it work along with the pilots, we can trigger the chimera effect artificially. This is another step on the path to godhood."

"Fabulous, Ikari. Let's see to it that the HIP advances without a hitch."

The moon hung over the NERV base, rotating around the Earth like a lost sibling. Kaji was working in Japan, Asuka was moving in with Misato, and the cargo had been delivered. Things were bound to be a mess. The path to godhood was being paved, and all that remained was the question of who would take it.


End file.
